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Update on Vermont's Plan to Address the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)

25 January 2016

Status of the plan:
The division's staff are working to put the final touches on this plan in order to release the most accurate and helpful information to you. Unfortunately this has taken longer than we anticipated. We hope to release the Vermont's plan on Monday, January 25th on our website and through email.

Give us feedback:
You may provide comments via a SurveyMonkey survey (link to be sent out with the plan), or at a public hearing. The public hearings will be held:

More information about CCDF and why Vermont has a plan:
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 was passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Obama in November 2014. This act is also referred to as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). This is the federal funding source and guidance for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) and all related child care quality and professional development initiatives administered by the Vermont Department for Children and Families, Child Development Division (CDD).

This is the first time the law has been reauthorized since it was initiated in 1996; and there are significant changes focused on health and safety standards, consumer education, systems integration and the quality of child care services the fund supports. The federal Office of Child Care has released a summary of changes on the new law available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/ccdf-reauthorization. These changes will affect Vermont's licensing standards and child care financial assistance.

States, including Vermont, are required to submit a CCDF State Plan, subject to federal approval, to describe how they will meet the new requirements in state child care subsidy programs and quality initiatives. In some areas, states have broad discretion, in other areas there are highly prescriptive requirements in the law. Vermont's current CCDF State Plan, which can be found on the CDD website at http://dcf.vermont.gov/sites/dcf/files/CDD/Reports/CCDF_VT_STATE_PLAN_2013.pdf, will be extended through October 2016 when new federal requirements begin to take effect. We have until March 1, 2016 to develop a new plan in consultation with state and local partners and stakeholders, hold a public hearing, and submit the plan for approval.